Wifi speed query

[Keithb]

Hi there, I have a confusing and slightly annoying situation and I'm wondering if anyone has some suggestions. I'm not really tech-savvy but not a complete novice!

My set-up is a Nest wifi router in my lounge, I'll call this router 1. It is serving 2 points with no issues. 

I have another Nest wifi router in our garden room, I'll call this router 2. It isn't serving any points.

Both routers are connected to a Virgin Media modem/router which gives me a stable average 400mbps.

Router 1 is in the same room as the VM modem and is connected via a 3m cable. Router 2 is 30m away connected by a 50m cable.

The issue is, router 1 gives me only 85mbps, router 2 puts out 385mbps.

Router 1 was installed about 6 months before we did router 2. I was happy with the 85mbps, thinking that something had limitations but it was enough for us.

When I installed router 2, I figured something wasn't right so I swapped the routers around. The outcome of this is now router 2 puts out 85mbps in the lounge but router 1 is still only putting out 85mbps in the garden room. When I swap them over again it goes back to how it was.

Any suggestions? 

[MichaelP · Accepted solution]

Hello @Keithb 

It is always challenging to diagnose issues like this, but the first thing I would try is replacing that 3m Ethernet cable to Router 1. Any time I see an Ethernet connection coming in under 100Mbps I suspect the cable (or one of the ports it's connected to) isn't managing to negotiate and hold a full 1Gbps connection speed. Even a good quality cat 5e or cat 6 Ethernet cable should be inexpensive to try this out. I'm a little concerned that Router 1 only managed 85Mbps in the garden room position, so it's possible it's WAN Ethernet port is having trouble, but changing the cable is still worth a try. If the VM modem/router has multiple Ethernet ports, you might also try connecting the Router 1 cable to a different port on that side as another experiment. But, change one thing at a time and then test. Remove and reseat cables is also a good thing to try when you see sub-100Mbps performance like this as well. Good luck!

[Jeff]

Hi, Kethb.
I just wanted to jump in real fast to see if you saw MichaelP's reply and to see if you still needed some help on this or if you were able to get it sorted out. If you are still needing some help, just let us know and we'll be happy to continue helping.
Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hi again, Keithb.

I'm checking in again to see if you needed anything more here or if you're all set.

Thanks,

- Jeff

[Keithb]

Hi Jeff (and Michael) Thanks for your help. Following your response, I did check the 3m ethernet cable and found that it had been nibbled by one of our (the wife's) pesky pet rabbits! Once I had replaced the cable the router still only gave out around 85Mbps so I factory reset the router and found success, a vast improvement.

Thanks again. 🙂

[Jeff]

Great news, Keithb. I'm happy to hear you're all squared away.

Before I mark this one as resolved, is there anything else you might need?

Thanks,

- Jeff

[Jeff]

Hi, everyone.
Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.
Thanks,
- Jeff